Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to an apparatus to prevent file cabinets, furniture and other large items from tipping over and possibly injuring individuals. More specifically, this invention is directed to an outrigger for a file cabinet that deploys when the file cabinet is tipped to prevent the file cabinet from tipping over.
Discussion of Related Art
Traditional file cabinets are inherently dangerous because the sliding of drawers changes a center of gravity of the entire cabinet and when the center of gravity is not over the footprint of the cabinet, the cabinet can easily tip over. This inherent danger can be increased under reasonably foreseeable circumstances including: overloading cabinets; pulling downward on extended drawers; pulling horizontally on open or closed drawer hardware or cabinet structure; getting ensnared on the cabinet structure while walking away from the unit; impacting or pushing forward on a backside of the cabinet by people or vehicles, such as forklifts; mounting cabinets on non-level surfaces; and impact from rapidly opening drawers against stops. Known methods of increasing the stability of the file cabinets include: bolting the cabinets to the floor and/or wall; adding counterweights; gang bolting cabinets side-to-side or back-to-back; locating the file cabinet beneath a shelf or other horizontal surface that blocks the cabinet's ability to tilt; and interlock systems that permit only one drawer to be open at a time. Bolting, ganging and under mounting work well to minimize tipping; however, these methods immobilize cabinets and inhibit relocation within an office. Counterweights and interlocks only provide modest improvement in overturning resistance and cannot be retrofit to traditional file cabinets that have multi-decade life spans.